1 reason the NY Mets should, 1 they shouldn’t trade each young position player

Values of all sorts, there are reasons to hold and fold with these young Mets players.
MLB Little League Classic: Seattle Mariners v New York Mets
MLB Little League Classic: Seattle Mariners v New York Mets | Joe Sargent/GettyImages
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Who’ll stay and who’ll go from the New York Mets roster will be a greater question this winter. After their run in 2024, it was more about what they could do to get better. Practically everyone got an invitation to return. How could we not open our arms so wide to welcome nearly everyone for a return?

Things changed in 2025. Several lackluster performances along with an entire team that underachieved in the standings,  Questions about what’s next for their young players will be discussed plenty this offseason.

Let’s get it out of the way quickly and look at one reason why the Mets should and one why they shouldn’t trade each of their young position players.

The Mets should trade Francisco Alvarez because he constantly caps out

A lifetime .230 hitter is hard to defend from putting on the trade block. Not all .230 hitters are built the same. Francisco Alvarez was regarded as one of the best prospects in the game. His grasp of playing in the big leagues has taken a while. Demoted last season for offensive but maybe more so defensive purposes, he remains a work in progress.

It seems to be the same thing every year with Alvarez. There’s a cap of what he can do. He hit with a ton of power in 2023 but his 13 errors and 8 passed balls led the league for catchers. The .209 batting average didn’t have Cooperstown clearing out space either. He is exhibiting early signs of just being an okay player, exchanging power for an improved yet not excellent batting average over the last two years.

The Mets shouldn’t trade Francisco Alvarez because doing so creates a hole

Along with getting new voices to coach him as a hitter for the first time in his big league career, trading Alvarez feels like an unnecessary rip cord to pull. They can immediately replace him with Luis Torrens behind the plate, but we saw through extended play how Torrens cannot carry the load offensively.

Alvarez isn’t a financial burden and with several more years of team control, it would be premature to give up on him so quickly. Catchers can take a while. Yadier Molina didn’t begin to hit his stride until his age 24-25 seasons after parts of three semi-successful campaigns. Alvarez is coming into that next year.

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